LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas, Nevada

“Hey”, the man who accosted me on the Strip at Las Vegas said, “Do you want a girl? Will get you one in twenty minutes. Give your number”. I was aghast—my wife, daughter and son-in-law were ten feet ahead of me. I told that pimp “I am happily married for forty years. No, thanks”.
“You, Dude” he spat at me.
My first introduction to Las Vegas—the “Sin City of the World”.

If the Grand Canyon is a wonder of the natural world, Las Vegas is a wonder of the artificial world. It has a bit of all places, recreated in meticulous scale detail and then covered in neon and lights. The city is loud and gaudy, it is heartbreaking and ridiculous and it exists for one reason—to take your money. Everything in this town is constantly new. It is affected with terminal restlessness and finds new ways of attracting visitors and relieving them of their money. You will be thrilled to hear the distinct sound of coins dropping as you cash out on your slot machine. The sound is a programmed audio track. Payments come out in printed slips or special coins you will have to exchange at the cages.
There are over 100 Casinos attached to Hotels. It is difficult to cover all these in a few days. We selected half a dozen representative ones and these are among the finest here. I attempt a brief review of these select ones and portray their unique charm

Cityscape


The southern portion of The Las Vegas Strip at night
Nothing can prepare you for your first sight of Las Vegas. The sky-line is hyper-reality, a melange of the Statue of Liberty, an Eiffel Tower, a giant lion (MGM), a Pyramid, a Sphinx and glittering buildings. At night it is so bright, you can actually get disoriented. Here hotels are the major attractions. All hotels have Casinos. Gambling is the major attraction. It is noisy and chaotic. It is a Disneyland for adults. It is a shrine to greed and the love of filthy lucre. Vegas is every bit as amazing as the Grand Canyon and every bit as much a must-see .It is one of the seven Wonders of the Artificial World. And you should experience it at least once!.
We stayed in “Excalibur”, one of the largest resort hotels in the world. “Excalibur”, in case you have forgotten is the sword of King Arthur. The Hotel is a gleaming white, turreted castle complete with moat, drawbridge, battlements and lofty towers. It has a sprawling Casino full of families and small time gamblers. A sky-rail and moving side-walk connects you to adjoining Luxor.


Excalibur Hotel



In Luxor, the main hotel is a 30 story onyx-coloured pyramid, complete with a really tall 315,000-watt light beam at the top. Egyptians believed their souls would travel up to heaven in a beam of light. You will feel giddy to see replicas of Cleopatra’s Needle and the Sphinx gracing the outside. You get inside and will be stunned to watch the statues of Ramses. The lift is a 39-degree high-speed inclinator—that is an elevator when it works inside a pyramid.




The Luxor Hotel
Another impressive hotel is the “Venetian”, an elaborate spectacle. Its exterior re-creates most of the top landmarks of Venice ( which we visited last May). We have the Campanile, a portion of St Mark’s square, part of the Doge’s palace, a number of canals with singing gondoliers plying their Gondolas. Attention to detail is impressive. Stone is aged for that weathered look, statues and tiles are exact copies of the Italian originals, security guards wear Venetian police uniforms—happily the dirty smell of the canals is missing. We were witness to a musical soiree---we got seats in the front row. Good Venetian, colourful dances and lilting music.
The “ Bellagio” has attractions both outside and inside. Fountains from a 8 acre artificial lake-- have giant spouts of water shooting up and down and sideways and dance their aquatic hearts out, to pieces carefully choreographed to tunes ranging from Frank Sinatra to Chopin. We stayed up for several numbers. Even one- from the top of the opposite Eiffel Tower. The ceilings adjoining the Lobby flaunt a homage to the Sistine Chapel of Michelangelo—with faithful reproductions of the original in the Vatican. The Bellagio has a conservatory which is a larger than life atrium, filled with living foliage in riotous colours and styles. It being Halloween Festival time we had a spectacular display of giant pumpkins and ghosts and spirits. Quite an unusual item is the 27 feet chocolate stream in three colours descending slowly and majestically through transparent glass tubes. Reminded me of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” .I found it as irresistible as the conservatory.


The Paris Casino reproduces various Parisian landmarks as the Hotel de Ville, Louvre and a half-scale perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower. The interior puts you in the middle of a dollhouse version of Paris. Cobbled streets of Paris,with an artificial sky with clouds, stars and a sliver of the moon. The sky is at a height of five floors. A great place to visit.
The MGM Casino has a $ 9 million Lion Habitat showcasing six adult lions daily. When the lions sleep atop a see-through walkway tunnel, separated from their admirers only by a sheet of protective glass and a couple of feet of air. The lions live with other felines in a nearby ranch. Outside the Casino is U S A’s largest bronze statue one lakh pounds—45 feet tall, perched on a 25 foot pedestal ringed by lush landscapes and fountains.


For those interested in more on Las Vegas—read on…..
“Las Vegas “, Spanish for ‘The Meadows” is the most populous city of Nevada, an internationally renowned major resort city for the gaming industry, shopping, and entertainment. Las Vegas, billed as the Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of large Casinos and their associated entertainment. The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of “Sin City”, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programmes. Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip and are seen elsewhere in the city as well; as seen from space, Las Vegas is the brightest city on earth
Established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, at the close of the century Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in the 20th century. It had estimated population of 558,880 during the 2000 census. The population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area exceeds 2 million residents.
In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (Vegas in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.


Las Vegas Strip
Gambling was legalized in the city in 1931. On December 26, 1946, Bugsy Siegel’s opened the infamous “Flamingo Hotel” in Paradise on what would later become the popular “Las Vegas Strip”. The era of mega resort Casinos began in 1989, with the opening of the “Mirage”.
The completion of the nearby Hoover Dam in 1935 resulted in a substantial growth in tourism, which, along with the legalization of gambling in 1931, led to the advent of the Casino-hotels for which Las Vegas is famous. The city owes almost all its current status and reputation to American organized crime. All of the original large Casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures Benjamin Bugsy and Meyer Lansky.
The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and Casinos was augmented by a new source of federal money. This money came from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air-force Base. The influx of military personnel and Casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which still goes on today.
The major attractions in Las Vegas are the Casinos. The most famous hotels are located on Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as the Las Vegas Strip. Many of these hotels carry thousands of rooms. There are, of course, large Casino areas in these hotels as well.

P P R
10-11-2008